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Metacognition

Knowledge, monitoring and regulation of one's own learning and thinking processes.

thoughtbridgeStrong evidence
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

Metacognition includes judging what you understand, noticing uncertainty, choosing a strategy and checking whether it worked. Confidence is useful only when calibrated against performance.

What “Strong evidence” means

The core definition or effect is well established across authoritative standards, foundational research or a broad research literature. The label does not make every practical prediction certain.

Marker-board illustration created specifically to explain Metacognition: Knowledge, monitoring and regulation of one's own learning and thinking processes.VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARD
Knowledge, monitoring and regulation of one's own learning and thinking processes.
EXAMPLE

Realizing that you can repeat a definition but cannot produce an example is a metacognitive signal to practice differently.

COMMON CONFUSION

Thinking a lot about yourself is not automatically accurate monitoring of how you learn or reason.

ASK YOURSELF

What evidence shows that I understand this rather than merely recognize it?

RELATED CONCEPTS
thought × bridgeWorking memory

A limited system for temporarily holding and manipulating information needed for an ongoing task.

thought × bridgeCognitive load

The demand a task places on limited mental processing and working-memory resources.

thought × bridgeUncertainty

A state in which available information does not determine one outcome, explanation or confidence level with certainty.

thought × bridgeEvidence

Information that raises, lowers or otherwise constrains rational confidence in a claim.

References

Last reviewed

  1. 01
    Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring

    John H. Flavell · 1979 · American Psychologist

    Foundational account of knowledge and monitoring of one's own cognitive processes.
    Academic source
What the source labels mean
Primary source
Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
Academic source
Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
Reference source
An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
General reference
A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.